DoubleTree hotel closure hits New Bern retailers, tourism

Tuesday

The fate of the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel in New Bern remains uncertain nearly six months after damage from Hurricane Florence forced its closure.

According to local tourism officials, the DoubleTree’s management has offered little information about their plans for one of downtown New Bern’s largest hotels.

The DoubleTree, which is located off of Middle Street, received damage to 85 percent of its 171 rooms during Hurricane Florence, according to information General Manager Rolando Hernandez provided to the Craven County Tourism Development Authority (TDA) in February. He said the hotel was forced to lay off most of its 115 employees on staff and was working through litigation with its insurance carrier. At the time, Hernandez said he expected the DoubleTree to be closed until January 2020.

But according to TDA Chairman Sabrina Bengel, the DoubleTree’s management company, SIG Management of Augusta, Ga., has provided no specific information about plans to repair or reopen the hotel.

“That’s my concern. We have a major property in our city. I’m the chair of the TDA and neither myself or the executive director has been contacted by the ownership to say, ‘Hey, here’s what’s going on.’”

Bengel contrasted the current state of the DoubleTree with efforts to reopen the Courtyard by Marriott on East Front Street.

“They struggled but they opened up. First they had 20 rooms opened on the upper floors, then they had 30 rooms and now they’re to the point where they’re back open,” she commented.

Bengel said she’s unclear why the hotel's management has been less than forthcoming about their intentions.

“Here we have a major hotel and they’re not talking to the people that generate tourists? This is important to our community,” said Bengel. “You would think as good business people they would want to generate income and not let an asset diminish.”

Bengel said the impact of the DoubleTree’s closing will be even more apparent with the reopening of the Riverfront Convention Center, which is scheduled for September.

“We can’t just sit back and just let this be. This hurts everybody because now the Convention Center’s working to get back open and if we don’t have the hotel rooms in the immediate area having it open is not going to help,” she commented.

In an email response to questions posed by the Sun Journal, Marty Matfess, chief operating officer with SIG Management, said the DoubleTree suffered “massive flooding and leaking damage.”

“We are committed to restoring full operations at this hotel and are working with our insurance carrier in order to be able to repair the property. We look forward to re-opening DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel New Bern Riverfront and welcoming back our team members, guests and the New Bern community,” wrote Matfess.

According to Bengel, businesses has fallen in downtown New Bern since the closing of the DoubleTree and the Convention Center.” It could be because business people that were staying at the DoubleTree, they’s get off of work and come downtown to restaurants and to shop. That’s 171 rooms that are cut off,” said Bengel.

Lynne Harakal, executive director of Swiss Bear, Inc., said downtown business revenues are down approximately 15-20 percent since the hurricane.

“In retail that's a very large hit. Most small retailers have a profit margin of about 10 percent at the end of the year so if these percentages continue many of our retailers could be in jeopardy,” said Harakal. “Not having the Doubletree makes this situation even more ominous. Our downtown businesses need the DoubleTree operational.”

Lindsay Sims, of Mitchell Hardware, said her business had seen some effect from the hotel's closing but has been been able to push through with the support of local shoppers.

“We have a heavy local base as well as a tourism base so we haven’t really been negatively affected at this point, especially because we have hope of the Convention Center opening back. So far so good here, we’re just trying to keep the locals coming in,” said Sims.

At this point, said Bengel, even a partial reopening of the DoubleTree would be beneficial to downtown New Bern.

“We’ve just got to get some life back. That’s a very large piece of downtown that does not need to remain closed and shuttered.”

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